People who had seen a general practitioner in the past year were asked about the frequency of their visits, whether they had seen a GP for urgent medical care or after hours, whether they had received a prescription for medication, and whether they had been referred to a medical specialist at any time in the past 12 months.

People who had seen a GP for urgent medical care were asked how long they waited between making the appointment and seeing the GP; and people who had seen a GP after hours were asked where they had seen the GP.

People who had been referred to a medical specialist were asked about the frequency of their visits and whether they had actually seen the specialist they had most recently been referred to.

This chapter presents data on responses to these questions, by a range of characteristics. Aspects of communication with GPs and specialists, and barriers to accessing GPs and specialists are dealt with in Chapters 5 and 2 respectively.